Not digesting food :(

[CaptainMorgantown]

Hey everyone. My MBD cham just pooped for the first time since I started feeding her butterworms, and everything came out whole. There were about seven whole worms, and the rest was watery liquid. I think the liquid might be from the Carnivore Care because it was kind of the same color, but should I even bother with feeding her anything but the Carnivore Care? I guess the vet was right in saying that I should wait a while, but I thought if she was eating the food then I should keep feeding her. I have noticed that she can digest crickets, so maybe I will see what happens with those. Anyway, what do you all think I should do?

 

[fluxlizard]

butterworms and waxworms are soft, but their exoskeleton is still considered difficult to digest.

 

[camimom]

I think you should cut back on the worms, but give her crickets if shes eating them.
With her MBD the way it is, she needs the energy from the bugs.
I know some people will say that food is not of high priority right now, getting her calcium and other vitamin levels back on track is...
but when trying to get better from a serious illness, nutrients are needed from food too.
if she eats, let her, if she isnt, dont force her too much. JMO

 

[lindawaz]

How warm is the basking spot and are they using it?
The heat aides in digestion

 

[fluxlizard]

I think you should cut back on the worms, but give her crickets if shes eating them.
With her MBD the way it is, she needs the energy from the bugs.
I know some people will say that food is not of high priority right now, getting her calcium and other vitamin levels back on track is...
but when trying to get better from a serious illness, nutrients are needed from food too.
if she eats, let her, if she isnt, dont force her too much. JMO

I agree with this comment, but with a bit of a twist for thought-

First thought- the stuff your vet is giving you is in fact food. It isn't just a supplement. Your cham does get energy and can gain weight from it.

BUT- that said, if it was my chameleon and willing to hunt - I'd still give it a few crickets here and there.

The problem with this is that anything in addition to the carnivore care is going to be effecting the balance of the total diet because you have the carnivore care in effect diluted by whatever additional food items you are offering. So the total nutritional balance offered by the carnivore care changes with the addition of something else. Total diet is about balancing percentages, rather than quantities. So percent of vitamins/calcium/d3 etc in the carnivore care changes and is reduced when you add something without those to the diet. You don't want to do that if you already have problems of having too little to begin with.

Still, here is what I would do if it were mine- I'd use the carnivore care but offer a few crickets dusted with rep-cal with d3. That adds some calcium and d3 to the mix. I think keeping that hunting instinct going is only going to help improve health. But it is a judgement call and you have already paid a veterinarian to make that call, right?

I don't know the answer to this, but is carnivore care specifically formulated for treating MBD or is it just for assist feeding generally? If it is not specifically formulated for treating MBD- geez I'd probably add some calcium to it. Don't do that without consulting your vet though...

 

[camimom]

I agree with this comment, but with a bit of a twist for thought-

First thought- the stuff your vet is giving you is in fact food. It isn't just a supplement. Your cham does get energy and can gain weight from it.

BUT- that said, if it was my chameleon and willing to hunt - I'd still give it a few crickets here and there.

The problem with this is that anything in addition to the carnivore care is going to be effecting the balance of the total diet because you have the carnivore care in effect diluted by whatever additional food items you are offering. So the total nutritional balance offered by the carnivore care changes with the addition of something else. Total diet is about balancing percentages, rather than quantities. So percent of vitamins/calcium/d3 changes and is reduced when you add something without those to the diet. You don't want to do that if you already have problems of having too little to begin with.

Still, here is what I would do if it were mine- I'd use the carnivore care but offer a few crickets dusted with rep-cal with d3. That adds some calcium and d3 to the mix. I think keeping that hunting instinct going is only going to help improve health.

I don't know the answer to this, but is carnivore care specifically formulated for treating MBD or is it just for assist feeding generally? If it is not for treating MBD- geez I'd probably add some calcium to it. Don't do that without consulting your vet though...

I did not know about the carnivore care stuff. Very intersting.
I think you are right with keep feeding some to keep the hunting instinct going.
I think carnivore care isjust for feeding during illness, not necesarily for MBD. But i wouldnt quote me on it.

 

[kinyonga]

Are you giving her the liquid calcium in addition to everything else?

 

[fluxlizard]

Are you giving her the liquid calcium in addition to everything else?

I did not know this possibility when I made my comments about dusting the crickets. It is relevant if that is the case.

 

[CaptainMorgantown]

I am giving her butterworms because it's a food she won't keep spitting out, she actually seems to like it, and she doesn't have a hard time swallowing it. I asked on here before, and someone said that feeding them to her for now is fine since she is still getting nutrients and calcium from them. She has a very difficult time swallowing crickets because she can't chew them, and I'm pretty sure they bite her on the tongue when she is trying to swallow them. She can't/ won't hunt on her own if I put food in there, and I'm worried if I leave any crickets in there with her, they will bite her. I haven't tried crickets for about a week though, and she seems to be getting stronger so I will get some tomorrow.

I am giving her the carnivore care, but she really seems to hate it, and gags all of the time on it. What the vet said was not to worry about feeding her live bugs until she can or will eat them without me helping her, and just to keep giving her the carnivore care until this happens. I feel like I'm starving her with just giving her a little bit of it everyday.

I will let you all know what happens with the crickets tomorrow.

Also, I have went to every pharmacy in my area and nobody know what the liquid calcium is. I will go back and ask again if someone can tell me a brand or what it looks like or something, but everyone said the only liquid calcium they have is the prescription injections. I meant to ask about that sooner, but I just now remembered.

 

[kinyonga]

Sorry Flux...the comment wasn't directed towards something you said...its just that if the OP hasn't been giving the liquid calcium or calcium dusted insects how is the chameleon going to recover from the MBD??

 

[CaptainMorgantown]

I dusted all of the butterworms in calcium. The only thing that I haven't given her is the liquid calcium from the pharmacy.

 

[kinyonga]

If you are only dusting the insects and not giving her extra calcium the MBD will not be corrected unless you are thickly coating the insects. IMHO you need to give her extra calcium to make sure she has enough to correct the MBD...then once you have it corrected you would dust at every feeding with a phos.-free calcium powder, twice a month with a phos.-free calcium/D3 powder and twice a month with a vitamin powder that contains a beta carotene source of vitamin A. You also need to make sure you gutload/feed the insects well.

 

[CaptainMorgantown]

I am dusting her food at every feeding, I am gutloading the insects, I am giving her what the vet told me, and I order her liquid calcium off amazon so I started her on that last week. She is showing signs of improving